


Come Morning Light

by buunbi



Category: Half Life VR But The AI Is Self Aware
Genre: Fluff and Angst, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Post-Canon, Slow Burn, When I think of them, gonna try and keep it balanced lol
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-28
Updated: 2020-09-02
Packaged: 2021-03-06 05:26:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,616
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25568203
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/buunbi/pseuds/buunbi
Summary: Just close your eyes, the sun is going downYou'll be alright, no one can hurt you nowCome morning light, you and I'll be safe and sound—Forzen and Darnold escape Black Mesa together, and subsequently attempt to rebuild their lives together.
Relationships: Darnold/Forzen (Half-Life)
Comments: 8
Kudos: 63





	1. Chapter 1

Darnold didn’t know why he returned to his lab after the Science Team left. He supposed it was because, while he could leave the facility itself on his own, he didn’t exactly have anywhere else to go or a way to get there. May as well just go down with the ship while also trying to fix his computer.

He tried to ignore the shrieks of monsters outside, but the pounding in his head was beginning to feel like he’d been shot by that gun Dr Coomer had taken. Gunshots, screaming, the sounds of security guards and his fellow scientists running for their lives from things that were usually kept safely locked away.

Just another day at Black Mesa, really.

Darnold was safely locked away in another sense; he could get out, no monsters could get in. He was somewhat worried about that big hole in the ceiling, though. Unfortunately, he didn’t exactly know what to do about it so he just hoped it’d be fine.

His computer seemed to be a lost cause. He knew he had at least most of the information on it stored in a USB stick somewhere, he just had to remember the exact location of it. There weren’t exactly many places for it to be hiding in the sparse mixology lab, so he started with the gadget crates and worked from there.

It only took a few minutes to find the small drive. As he held it up in victory — and to make sure it wasn’t damaged — a loud banging resounded from the thick steel door to his sanctuary. He practically jumped out of his skin and ducked down behind his potions table as if that would protect him from any monsters that managed to break in. 

“Yo, is anyone in there?” A deep voice called out, muffled by the thick metal of the door.

“N-No!” Darnold replied, then immediately chastised himself. _Well, obviously they’re gonna know someone’s in here now._

“It’s the- the United States military, open up!” _Ah, so a monster in a man's shoes. Lovely._

“No thank you, I don’t want to buy anything!” Was that the military or Jehovah’s Witnesses? Maybe it was just door-to-door salesmen, Darnold was too scared to really parse through his thought process. He had curled up against the counter behind him, hands covering his head. As if that would do anything. He was making a lot of decisions he didn’t really get.

“What the hell are you talking about?” _I’d really like to know too, Mr Military Man._ “Just let me in!”

“What’s the magic word?”

“Please?”

“Shit, he got it.” Darnold mumbled to himself. He didn’t know what to do now so he remained silent. What, was he supposed to lie and say the soldier got the magic word wrong? Was not saying anything a lie of omission? Was he overthinking this?

Then he heard the door open and remembered that _oh, yeah, there’s a button on the outside_. Maybe he should’ve locked it. He wasn’t sure how to but hey, he’s a scientist, he could’ve figured it out.

Then, there was a gun in his face. Lovely.

Darnold’s eyes travelled up the barrel of the gun, along a pair of very strong-looking arms, to lock with the bright purple eyes squinting down at him. _Huh, weird_. Was this guy wearing cosplay contacts? Darnold wasn’t sure that was allowed in the military, but he wasn’t a soldier so he supposed he couldn’t exactly say.

“Get up.”

“What if I don’t... want to?” Darnold, he has a gun in your face. Darnold, please.

The soldier cocked said gun and Darnold was on his feet in seconds with his hands raised up beside his head in surrender. The soldier glared at him for a long, tense moment before lowering his gun.

“Come with me.” He demanded more than asked.

“I- I don’t wanna leave my lab, it’s scary out there!”

“Gonna be scarier when there’s bombs dropping on this place.”

Darnold thought for a moment, fiddling with the USB drive in his hands. He tucked it safely away in one of his pockets and let out a breath.

“Fine.”

The soldier glanced at Darnold’s pocket but decided not to ask what that was. Probably just science stuff that’d go over his head. He gestured his gun towards the door, motioning for Darnold to go first. The scientist complied, afraid he’d get shot otherwise.

The soldier fell in step only slightly behind him and to his right as they walked, eyes silently scanning through the halls. His presence was reassuring to Darnold, in an odd way. Darnold had his own gun and could defend himself if push came to shove but he was glad he wasn’t alone. 

“So... what’s your name?” Darnold asked after a minute or two. The soldier stumbled a bit, seemingly surprised that Darnold had asked.

“Uh, Forzen.”

“Mine’s Darnold.”

“Cool.”

The halls were eerily quiet as they walked through them. Blood splatters and dead bodies littered the ground; Darnold did his best not to look at them. He was wringing his hands, the pungent smells and gruesome sights making his anxiety increase tenfold. He decided he’d try to make some kind of conversation to distract himself.

“So, why did you, um... not kill me?”

“Don’t like killing people without a reason.”

“But you’re a soldier.” It came out as more of a question than a statement.

“... Don’t like that either.”

“Why?” Darnold turned to face Forzen, who had a deep-set frown shadowing his eyes.

“Why do you ask so many questions?”

“I’m a scientist, asking questions is my job.”

Forzen glanced at him but didn’t reply until Darnold had turned back to watch where he was walking.

“I didn’t have enough money for college, army has benefits,” he explained, voice flat, “I didn’t have the option to ask anyone for help so I got stuck doing this.”

“Oh.” 

All of a sudden their lackadaisical wandering was interrupted by an inhuman screech from one of the labs they were about to walk by. A strange creature with a bulbous red eye burst through the door, leaving both men frozen in shock for a second. 

The eye swivelled to look right at them.

The creature looked as though it was about to charge, leading Darnold to scurry behind Forzen as the soldier repeatedly shot at the grotesque alien. Within moments it was falling to the ground with a wet thud as viscous yellow liquid seeped from its wounds.

It was taking everything in Darnold not to break down in a panic attack. He was so focused on not panicking that he didn’t even register Forzen asking him if he was okay.

“Darnold? Yo, Darnold!” Forzen grabbed his arm, instantly jolting him back to reality. That frown creased Forzen’s brow again as his violet eyes bore into Darnold’s deep amber ones.

“I’m- I’m fine.” Forzen seemed sceptical, even with the small smile Darnold managed to muster up. “I should be used to this kind of thing by now, honestly.”

Forzen raised his eyebrows slightly, dropping his hand from his companion's arm. “You normally get these, uh,” he glanced back at the dead alien, “volleyball things around here?”

“We- what? Volleyball?”

“Yeah, its eye's as big as a volleyball. Maybe. Kinda? It’s big.”

“Can’t argue with that.” Darnold pointedly avoided looking at the creature, instead choosing to just keep walking ahead. This time, Forzen stayed directly beside him. “To answer your question, we do have... similar things around here, though they’re usually safely locked away so the scientists who work in those departments can study them. I’ve never gotten very close, myself.”

“What’s your department?”

“Mixology! I develop potions that do all kinds of stuff, some are even to help the other scientists with their experiments.”

“I thought mix-“ Forzen stopped for a moment, his boot having gotten stuck in the dead body of one of the smaller aliens. He screwed his nose up at it and poked it off his foot with the end of his gun while Darnold stared on in horror. Once it was off he kept walking. 

“Anyways, I thought mixology was uh... alcohol and whatever.” Forzen finally finished.

“Oh, well I can do that stuff too,” Darnold explained, “I just prefer using my skills for science!”

“Rad.”

They barely spoke as they walked through the halls, not wanting to attract any more Volleyballs or whatever other creatures may be lurking. It was slightly awkward for Darnold, seeing as he was used to talking a lot, but he dealt with it for the sake of safety.

Eventually, they reached a room that was far enough out of the way that Forzen deemed it safe to spend the night. They had been wandering somewhat aimlessly with only Darnold’s vague memory of the layout of Black Mesa outside the path between his quarters and his lab to guide them for hours.

They both worked together to stack up nearby chairs and boxes against the door and window for extra protection. It probably wouldn’t do much in the event of an actual attack, but it worked to hide them somewhat and provided a sense of security. There wasn’t much they could do about the vents leading into the room, so they just hoped for the best.

They settled down under separate desks to sleep for the night, close enough that they could protect each other if they needed to but far enough away for comfort. They were still relative strangers, after all, even if Darnold was already beginning to think of Forzen as a friend. 

Darnold did that a lot, if he was being honest. Getting attached to people too easily, that is. He supposed it came from growing up somewhat outcast from the rest of the kids at school; if anyone showed even a smidge of kindness towards him they were his best friend. Everyone generally either teased or ignored him precisely because he had no friends and he was the ‘weird kid’. He’d gotten better about it as he had gotten older, of course, but his attachment issues still remained to some degree.

After quiet goodnights whispered between them, Forzen pondered over the events of the day while staring up at the gum-covered underside of the desk his head was under. He was a wide man so he’d had to line up several desks. They were really just for extra protection, again, not that they’d do much. His backpack was lying nearby anyway, so at least his weapons were in easy reach.

He thought about Darnold, and wondered why he had decided to spare him. Forzen had killed dozens of people in his time in the military and was fully prepared to kill a dog just earlier that same day. Maybe the guilt was just finally getting to him. It certainly wasn’t anything special about Darnold, he was entirely unremarkable. He was just in the right place at the right time.

He drifted off to sleep, barely even wondering how he was able to see in the pitch-black room they were in.

* * *

Forzen was woken up only a few hours later by a scream, a bang, and several gunshots. He scrambled out from under his cover at the sight of several of those small creatures scuttling around on the floor, two lying half-dead, evidently from Darnold shooting at them. Forzen quickly snatched up his gun and killed the rest before looking around for Darnold.

It didn’t take too long to find him; he was crouched in the corner between a large cabinet and the wall. His handgun was sitting a couple of metres away and he had curled up into a ball much like when Forzen had found him, hands covering his head. Forzen frowned, kneeling in front of him. The only sound in the room was Darnold’s ragged breathing.

“Darnold?”

The scientist tensed up slightly but made no other indication that he had heard Forzen. _Come on, man, what did your mom used to do when you had panic attacks?_ Forzen struggled to remember. It had been a while since he’d had someone to help him through it.

“I killed all the, uh... alien things. You’re safe now.” _Stop caring so much, you don’t need him to get out of here,_ a voice in Forzen’s head said. He ignored it.

“The- there’s more of them... everywhere,” Darnold mumbled, voice rough and muffled by his position, “they’re g—“ he coughed a few times before apparently just giving up on speaking. Forzen sighed and sat against the cabinet. He was planning on just waiting until Darnold calmed down when he got an idea. It was a little silly, but he got the feeling Darnold wouldn’t mind.

“Moe moe pepe, tumu tumu le laau...” Forzen started singing, voice soft, just like his mother did for him when he was a baby. He didn’t understand as much of the Samoan language as he’d like, but he remembered the song well enough.

Thankfully after nearly two rounds of the song, it did eventually lead Darnold into calming down. He uncurled himself and leaned against the wall, counting out his breathing and waiting for Forzen to finish singing.

“What song was that?” Darnold asked after a few beats of silence. He wiped his tears off on the sleeve of his lab coat.

“Uh... Samoan version of that ‘rockabye baby, in the treetops’ song...” Forzen mumbled, suddenly embarrassed. He hadn’t really ever sung in front of anyone before, so he had no idea how good he was. Good enough to calm Darnold down apparently, at least.

“Y-you have a nice... voice.” Darnold said, as if he’d read Forzen’s mind and seen his insecurities. Forzen glanced over at him with a small smile.

“You feeling better?”

“Yeah, sorry about—“

“You don’t have to apologise, let’s just get a move on.”

“Oh- alright!” 

After a rather awkward few seconds of silence, they both moved to get up and gather their things. Darnold double-checked that the USB was still in his pocket, slipped his gun back into his belt, and moved to start clearing the doorway while Forzen got his heavy backpack on.

“What’s in that thing, anyway?” Darnold asked once they’d left the room, gesturing towards the pack.

“Um... spare ammo, weapons, medical supplies, stuff like that.”

“Ah.”

“So, where to now?” 

“Well, if my memory serves correctly... we shouldn’t be too far from one of the facility’s underground parking lots. If we can make it there and take one of the cars we should, uh... should be able to get out of here.”

“What, like hotwire a car? Do you even know how to do that?” Forzen stopped and turned to look at Darnold.

“Uh, no. Can’t be too hard to figure out though, right? Or maybe we’ll get lucky and someone will have left their keys behind.”

Forzen was sceptical, but shook his head and continued walking anyway.

They reached the parking lot within an hour, only getting kind of lost once. There were dead bodies littering the ground, both human and alien, and most of the cars had seemingly been destroyed. They split up to find one that was still in working condition.

Darnold eventually found a black van that had a large, deep dent on one side with a lot of paint scraped off, the body of one of the facility's security guards lying in a crumpled heap beside it. Besides that, however, it was relatively unharmed.

He called Forzen over from the other side of the large space, his voice echoing off the concrete walls. Forzen jogged over, eying up the van while pointedly ignoring the corpse. After silently approving it, he tried opening the driver's side door to no avail. The passenger's side yielded the same result, but the two back doors of the van were unlocked.

Inside the van was an assortment of things that could be best described as ‘interesting’; at least 5 smashed Macintosh computers, 3 blowup sex dolls still in their original packaging, a black garbage bag that seemed to be filled with exclusively the engines of those electric floor fans, and several things neither of them could identify.

After sharing a disgusted look, they each grabbed a corner of the carpet at the floor of the van, ripping it out and taking all the random junk with it. Darnold climbed into the driver's seat to see if he could get the car to start while Forzen dumped his bag in the back of the van. He crawled up behind Darnold, watching over his shoulder as he worked on the wires under the dashboard.

“This’d be a lot easier if I could use my Hot Wire Potion.” Darnold grumbled. 

Forzen tilted his head, confused. “There’s a potion for that?” 

“There’s a potion for everything. Including regrowing lost limbs, kind of,” he sat up and scratched his head, “the fact that it was a fingernail gun was weird, but it did still... grow back.” He shook his head and hunched back over the wires.

Forzen watched the wires spark against each other to no avail, wishing the car would just start already so they could leave. Then, alongside an odd twisting feeling in the soldier's stomach, the van rumbled to life.

“Oh! Hey, I did it!” Darnold beamed. “Am I driving, or do you want to?” He turned to look at Forzen, who was still practically resting his chin on Darnold’s shoulder.

“Uh, I’ll drive. I think I’m better with directions than you.”

Darnold opened his mouth like he wanted to argue but clearly couldn’t think of a good counterpoint, so he closed it again and shuffled over to the passenger side while Forzen closed the back doors of the van. Soon enough they were both buckled in and ready to go.

It took about ten minutes to get out of Black Mesa and into the open desert, the sky dark and the air cold. The clock in the van's dashboard indicated that it was late evening. 

All they had to guide them (towards the nearest McDonalds, because fast food is always a sure sign of civilization) was the vans built-in GPS system that switched off every minute or so for seemingly no reason. It did manage to keep them on the right track at least.

“So... you lived in Black Mesa, right?” Forzen asked after a while.

“Yup.”

“And I didn’t really live anywhere, I just stayed wherever I was stationed... what are we gonna do now?”

Darnold let out a long breath.

“I really don’t know... I still have access to my, uh, company bank account so we should at least be able to get a motel room or something for a few nights,” he scratched the back of his head in thought, “we can figure out where to go from there once we _get_ there, I guess.”

Forzen hummed in agreement and they spent the rest of the drive in silence, the only sounds being the van itself and the GPS’s robotic voice when Darnold managed to get it to actually work. It was only about an hour and a half before they reached the outskirts of the nearest city.

They drove around for a while until they managed to find a cheap-but-decent-looking motel with an ATM out front. They ditched the car a few streets away, because they sure as hell wouldn’t be using it again, then walked back to the motel to book a room for the next few days. Darnold had enough in the bank to last them at least a week, the motel being a bit overpriced for how drab it was and them still needing to buy food and all.

They were both silently thankful that the tired receptionist didn’t seem to care about the fact they were covered head-to-toe in a mix of human and alien blood amongst other forms of grime. She just mentioned that the motel had a shower in every room.

Their room was relatively clean, thankfully. Forzen got to shower first just because he was substantially grosser than Darnold. His backpack also apparently contained spare clothes as he pulled out two t-shirts and two pairs of tracksuit pants, one for each of them. 

Forzen’s clothes were an odd mix of too big and too small on Darnold; the pants were slightly too short, but also baggy, while the shirt was just plain big. Darnold supposed that’s what he got for being a beanpole while Forzen was more of a brick wall. It was clean, which was all that really mattered.

They were both still exhausted despite having slept a few hours before. After raiding the mini-fridge for what few snacks were available, they got into their respective beds, turned off their table lamps, and went peacefully to sleep, safe in the knowledge that they probably wouldn’t be woken up by headcrabs this time.

Probably.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The song Forzen is singing is this btw https://youtu.be/RPtcIeNymKs


	2. Chapter 2

Forzen awoke the next day to the sun shining directly in his eyes. He squeezed them shut and rolled over with a groan. Darnold was sat up in his own bed poring over the real estate section of the days' newspaper to see if there was anything that would work for them.

He glanced over at Forzen, frowning at the fact he seemed to be... blurry? Darnold blinked and the effect was gone, so he figured it was just a trick of the light. Wouldn’t be the first time his eyes had played up on him, he’d have to go see an optometrist when he could.

“Morning.” Darnold smiled at the curled up form of his new friend.

“Mm... what time’s it?” Forzen cracked an eye open to look over at him.

“Uh, around 2 pm I think.”

“Wh...? That’s not morning...”

“It sure isn’t.”

“Fuck.” Forzen shut his eyes tight for a second before opening them and sitting up. He stretched out, back popping from the new position. “What’cha doin’?”

“Trying to see if there’s anywhere within walking distance of here that we could move to.” 

“Do we- or, you I guess, even have, like... the money? For that?”

“Mmm... I checked my bank account again this morning and, uh... I guess whoever owns Black Mesa felt bad about what happened. There’s a hefty sum of,” Darnold cleared his throat and raised his hands to do air quotes, “‘compensation money’ in there, alongside an email I got asking me not to reveal anything that happened.”

“So it’s hush money.” It was more of a statement than a question. 

“Mhm! I’m not complaining, though. I wouldn’t have, uh... said shit anyway. Who would believe me?” He turned back to the newspaper in front of him. “I dunno how they... knew I was alive, to send money to me, but, uh... they’ve got some strong tech so...” he trailed off, not really knowing how to finish that sentence. Forzen got what he meant anyway.

“Mm... anywhere look good yet?”

“Uh, there’s this two-bedroom apartment a few blocks away that’s actually open to be bought, not just rented. I wonder why that is...?”

“Previous owner probably died.” 

Darnold gasped and looked over at him, horrified. “Forzen, that’s awful!”

Forzen gave a short breath of a laugh. “Sorry, sorry... they probably just found somewhere better.”

“Exactly.”

“Like heaven—“

“Forzen!”

* * *

They got dressed as best they could before going to check out the apartment. Forzen really only had clothing that could count as pyjamas and Darnold had nothing.

Darnold had used Forzen's ancient brick of a phone to call the number on the ad for the house. The previous owner (who was very much not dead) said they could come take a look at the place that day, and if they liked it they could move in any time. 

The apartment itself was a small flat with a garage coming off one side of it. It was kind of old and could definitely use some refurbishing. The old man who was selling it to them said that all the electric and water systems were well in order so at least that wouldn’t need fixing, just the cosmetics. 

Darnold was slightly disappointed at the lack of a fireplace, but there was room in the small yard out the back for a fire pit that Forzen promised to build for him, so he took what he could get. Besides that, it was practically perfect for them.

It did cross their minds that moving into a house with someone you’d only just met may be a bit weird, but their circumstances were rather exceptional, so it was probably fine. Besides, that was basically what happened with university dormitories. Kind of.

They went back to their motel room after taking the grand tour of the apartment and telling the old man they’d take it. He said they could move in any time after the next day, as he still had some arrangements to make. Darnold had already written out a cheque for the payment side of things, so they didn’t really have anything to worry about at this point.

It was almost painfully domestic, something Darnold hadn’t had in a while. He loved it.

Forzen, on the other hand, was just happy to have somewhere relatively nice to live. Living life from tent to bunker to tent and so on over the past few years had taken its toll on him, and even the stiff mattress that the motel provided felt like sleeping on a marshmallow. 

He wondered how long it would be before it all crashed down. It had only been two days since... well, since he’d essentially gone into hiding. He gave it maybe a week or two before something terrible happened and he’d be right back where he started. Maybe even a month, if he was being optimistic.

Forzen was very aware of how dull his outlook on life was, but he couldn’t really bring himself to feel any other way. Every time he thought something was going well—

“Forzen?”

Darnold’s voice broke him out of his thoughts. They were seated across from each other at the small table in the motel room, a pile of fast food between them. Darnold looked concerned.

“Wh...?”

“You’ve been staring at your burger for ten minutes.”

“Ah... sorry.”

“You alright?”

_ Was he? _

“Yeah, yeah... just started thinking about,” he blinked a few times, “stuff.”

Darnold still looked worried. He hesitantly went back to eating once he realised Forzen wasn’t going to elaborate further. 

It was sweet, how concerned he was. He didn’t really have much reason to worry so much about Forzen; from the soldiers perspective, they were really nothing more than roommates. Roommates didn’t have to care about each other. Darnold could kick him to the curb at any time and Forzen would find that perfectly reasonable. He’d prefer that not happen, and he doubted it would because Darnold was just so painfully nice, but if it did he’d understand.

Darnold was looking at him again. He picked up his burger and started actually eating it. Maybe he should just try and enjoy the nice stuff while it lasted.

* * *

A day later, they were gathering up what few belongings they had to get ready to move. They’d ordered furniture online that would be arriving over the next week or two, but besides that they hadn’t really bought much. Clothes were something best bought in person and fast food would do them well enough until they actually had the facilities to store and cook food.

They were waiting for at least the mattresses to arrive before they actually started staying at the apartment. Their only other option was to share a fold-out couch the previous owner had offered to leave for them, but Forzen was uncomfortable sleeping that close to someone he barely knew. 

Soon enough, their furniture had started arriving and it was the day they were to officially move in. Darnold was out getting them some celebratory not-fast-food breakfast while Forzen went on ahead to the house to make sure the deliveries were in order.

Darnold tapped his foot idly while he waited for the food he’d ordered from a local café to be ready. He hadn’t remembered to ask Forzen what he wanted so he hoped the mixed-berry-topped pastry he’d bought would suffice.

Forzen was a rather odd person in Darnold’s opinion. He was quiet and generally pretty subdued unless he was really passionate about something — the only “something” Darnold had discovered so far was the Irate Gamer. Despite this, he seemed to unwittingly show every emotion he felt plainly on his face if one knew how to spot it, and Darnold was slowly learning to.

Darnold was always good at reading people. He had to be, if only to alleviate his anxiety without feeling annoying by constantly asking people if they still liked him. His two specialties; potions and emotions.

He knew something was up with Forzen, he just didn’t know what or how he could help. Whenever he asked Forzen would just deflect the question or change the subject, which he supposed made sense. They still barely knew each other.

Darnold was startled out of his thoughts by his order being called. After taking it, paying, and thanking the cashier he left to walk to the apartment. Along the way, he considered his own opinions on everything that was happening.

He’d been essentially saved from a building about to collapse by a soldier, someone he would never normally trust, and was now going to be living with him indefinitely. It was most decidedly strange.

He found that he didn’t really mind. He was used to a much higher level of strangeness than this. Working in Black Mesa for almost two decades teaches you to go with the flow somewhat. He was undoubtedly still scared, both of the new life he found himself living and of Forzen himself, but he figured if the now ex-soldier was going to hurt him he would’ve done it by now.

Darnold tried not to let himself get too overwhelmed by it all. It was hard but he had managed fine so far. He just had to hope it would stay that way, or at least that everything would settle into a new sort of normal before he finally cracked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I suck at responding to comments so if you leave one just imagine I am leaving a very well thought out reply and also kissing you gently on the forehead because that’s what I wanna do every time I get a comment on any of my fics


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me: this chapter should come out faster than the last one!  
> You guys like a fuckin month later or something: so that was a fucking lie
> 
> I’m sorry I have ADHD it’s not my fault *pacman noise*  
> I also care all of you, I suck at responding to comments but I do read them all they make me smile :•]

They were finally mostly moved into the apartment. A few non-essential furniture items were missing but they’d be there soon enough.

So, naturally, it was time for a shopping trip.

The first thing on the agenda was definitely clothes. Darnold especially was not keen on spending the whole day in pyjamas, so they were buying a whole outfit each to get changed into before doing anything else.

The nearby shopping centre had a large range of clothing shops for them to choose from. Darnold was immediately drawn to a small vintage-esque looking place, picking out an orange turtleneck, a pair of red and yellow plaid pants, and a pair of white sneakers to replace his worn-down black rocket boots. He wouldn’t need the rockets anymore anyway.

He bought a few more things in there and then went to the men’s restrooms to get changed while Forzen went to get his own clothes. Forzen was immediately drawn to a store that seemed dedicated to gamer apparel, but held off in favour of something more neutral. For now.

Forzen didn’t exactly have the eye for fashion that Darnold seemed to possess so he ended up waiting for him to come back before he did anything. When Darnold did finally return he looked far happier than he had before. He even did a little twirl that made Forzen smile too.

Darnold agreed to help Forzen find some clothes he liked, and they set off in search of somewhere that did not sell glow-in-the-dark Minecraft shirts.

“This is why people shouldn’t stereotype, I’m gay and my fashion sense is awful.” Forzen grumbled while looking at an array of rather gaudy t-shirts that Darnold swiftly steered him away from. It took Forzen a few seconds to realise he’d just outed himself in the most embarrassing and casual way possible, but Darnold didn’t even seem surprised.

“They have gay people on Queer Eye sometimes, you’re not alone.” 

“They have gay guys on there all the time, that’s the whole point.”

Darnold turned to give Forzen a flat stare. Forzen weakly grinned in response and Darnold’s eyes widened.

“Man, you’ve got some... sharp teeth.”

Forzen frowned and ran his tongue along his top row of teeth and oh, yeah, that was very pointy. Weird.

“Weird.”

Darnold gave him an odd look but decided it was best not to dwell on it. Some things were best left unexplained.

“Anyways... you’ve got a very warm skin tone, so I think we should try looking over here.” He directed Forzen towards a store that was filled with warm greys and autumnal hues, similar to the vintage shop but the clothing itself was more modern.

He ended up in a deep red hoodie with some black jeans and a new red beret to replace his old military-style one. The grin Darnold gave him when he saw him in his new clothes made him feel... nice. He hadn’t felt nice in any clothes he’d worn in a while, even when people had told him he looked good. They were usually strangers at bars, so that could’ve been why.

They’d gotten their, as Darnold called them, ‘going out clothes.’ Next, it was time for ‘at home clothes’ and pyjamas. When Forzen asked what the difference between home clothes and pyjamas was Darnold gave him such a horrified look he almost burst out laughing. 

“You need to separate being asleep and being awake,” Darnold explained while they looked through another shop, “like, if you sleep in the same clothes you’re in while you’re awake... and spend all day in bed, you’ll have more trouble sleeping. Because your brain won’t know when it’s supposed to switch off.”

“Huh... that’d explain a lot.” Forzen mumbled.

“Exactly! That’s why you should get dressed every day, even if you’re not going anywhere, and, uh... not sit in bed, you’ve gotta at least move to a different part of the room or something.”

“Like the floor?”

“I guess, but that’s gonna be bad for your back.” 

Darnold looked over some of the sets of flannel pyjamas before pulling one off the rack and holding it in front of Forzen, who, for his part, looked like a deer in the headlights.

“Do you think that’ll fit you? Maybe a size bigger...”

“Yeah, I’m... I’m a big guy.”

Forzen was really enjoying having someone to... not necessarily look after him, but help him in places he didn’t know he needed it. Darnold had adjusted rather easily to his new life, while Forzen was left floundering like a fish out of water. He could wear what he wanted, eat what he wanted, go where he wanted. That was something he hadn’t had in over a decade.

There was more freedom that came with working for Black Mesa than the military, which probably helped a fair bit. Darnold had been able to come and go as he pleased, especially since his job wasn’t technically essential. With how easily the military seemed to be letting him go, Forzen thought maybe his job wasn’t all that essential either.

Or he was presumed dead, which was the more likely option.

They’d gotten all their clothes shopping done within a couple of hours and were soon wandering around looking for somewhere to eat. They ended up in a small indoor cafe where they each got a milkshake and some croissants.

“So,” Darnold started, turning his full attention to Forzen, “you haven’t actually told me much about yourself.”

Forzen blinked and took a drink from his chocolate milkshake. “Mmm... don’t got much to tell.”

“No family or friends? Hobbies, interests?”

Forzen tried not to react too visibly to the mention of family. Darnold didn’t mention it so he guessed it worked. It hadn’t, Darnold just figured it was best not to pry.

“Uh... I like... Beyblade.” He was embarrassed to admit to being into something so childish at 35 years old, but it was all he could think of.

Darnold raised his eyebrows. “The anime? That’s cool, I never got into it. Anything you could tell me about it?” Ah, there we go. Forzen’s eyes lit up.

“I-I’ll probably just end up rambling, it’s not—“

“You can ramble, I don’t mind.” One of Darnold’s favourite things to do was listen to people talk about things they loved. Back in Black Mesa, he would often prompt Tommy to talk about his experiments and whatever soap opera he was into at the time on their lunch break. In turn, Darnold would talk about his potions and games or shows he liked. 

Forzen sheepishly looked to the side as his face flushed and he tried to gauge how serious the mixologist was being. Darnold continued to look at him expectantly.

Forzen took a deep breath.

“Okay, so...”

* * *

They got home early that evening, the sun just starting to dip below the horizon. Their arms were loaded with bags of clothing, bedding, food, and various other knickknacks they’d bought throughout the day. They dumped them all on the living room floor to be sorted through later and collapsed onto the couch together, thoroughly exhausted.

Darnold almost leaned on Forzens shoulder but ended up just falling back into the cushions when Forzen tensed up. _Note for the future: ask before making any kind of physical contact._

“That was fun.”

“Mmm...” Forzen was distracted, picking at a loose thread on his jeans.

“Do you... want me to make dinner?”

“You cook?”

“Yeah, I’m... not great at it, but I can make some pretty good spaghetti I think. My mom taught me how to make it.”

“Spaghetti’s cool.”

“Cool! Uh, I got a Netflix subscription, so you can put a movie on or something if you want.” Darnold gestured at the TV. Forzen hummed his acknowledgment and Darnold stood up. He went back over to the pile of shopping bags to rifle through them and find which ones had food in them to take them to the kitchen.

Forzen decided that he would have to learn to cook at some point. They weren’t going to be able to live on spaghetti and fast food for the rest of their lives, and he’d feel bad if Darnold had to cook all the time.

_Is that what this is, now?_ Forzen paused his scrolling through the comedy movies. _The rest of our lives? When did that happen?_

He ended up settling on Matilda. Every other movie he knew there included at least something about guns or fighting or war, it wasn’t something he wanted to think about. Darnold poked his head into the room when he heard the movie start and his eyes lit up when he saw what it was.

“Oh, good choice! I love this movie!”

Forzen let himself smile, just a little bit. “Mm... Miss Honey reminds me of my mom.”

“Your mom must be absolutely lovely.”

“She was.” The smile slipped off Forzens face as his eyes stayed trained on the screen. A small, sad frown creased Darnold’s brow. He wanted to ask what happened to her, but figured now wasn’t the time.

He moulded his face back into a smile. “Well, now I know where you get it from!” 

Forzen looked up at him, eyes slightly wide. Darnold just grinned at him before ducking back into the kitchen. Forzens cheeks felt hot as he turned back to the movie.

“If anyone’s lovely here, it’s the guy cookin’ me spaghetti...” he mumbled to himself.


End file.
